Here’s another great mid-90s article from Sports Cards Magazine about the unopened collecting niche; this one from Doug Koztoski includes info from Mark Murphy, the Baseball Card Kid.
Here are a few key takeaways:
- “For every pack that is opened from a particular year, all remaining packs are that much rarer.”
- Doug interviewed Mark Murphy, the Baseball Card Kid, for insights; he was the Steve Hart (The Baseball Card Exchange) of the hobby then.
- Murphy said that Wax was the pack of choice with unopened collectors; I think that’s still true.
- At the time, a 1-cent 1933 Goudey Sports Kings pack was ~$600
- The article highlighted that ’59 football penny packs were pretty common, but a penny pack from ’60 is tough to find.
- A run of 1950s baseball nickel packs was estimated at $61,500 in the mid-’90s.
- Fake packs were already very commonplace at the time.
Check out The Unopened Archive for more!